Ex-senator seeks end to poverty

October 28, 2005|By Jason Garcia, Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE -- Former Democratic vice-presidential candidate John Edwards returned to Florida on Thursday and focused on a familiar theme.

The candidate who built his campaign with stump speeches about the "two Americas" -- the rich one and the poor one -- called on students at Florida A&M University to get involved in the fight to rid the United States of poverty.

"This is not about charity," Edwards said. "It's about justice. It's about fairness."

Edwards is widely viewed as a likely White House contender in 2008, and his 25-minute speech in Tallahassee sounded at times as if it were made for the campaign trail.

He took a handful of swipes at the Bush-Cheney administration that defeated him and his running mate, U.S. Sen. John Kerry, in November. He referred to "that mess that's going on in Iraq right now" and condemned the government's "slow and ineffective" response to Hurricane Katrina.

In a state still cleaning up from Hurricane Wilma -- the eighth to affect Florida in two years -- Edwards centered much of his message around the storm that devastated the Gulf Coast.

"Because of Katrina hitting New Orleans, the country has seen the face of poverty. And there's a window of opportunity open because the country's paying attention," Edwards said.

"People say to me, `Why did those people in New Orleans get hurt the worst by the hurricane? Why did the poor get hurt the worst?' Because they always get hurt the worst, right?" Edwards said, drawing murmurs of "right" in response.

The former U.S. senator from North Carolina called for racial and economic integration in neighborhoods, a higher minimum wage, housing vouchers and expanded college scholarships. He also urged FAMU students in the audience to do volunteer work.

Afterward, Edwards brushed aside questions about whether his two-week tour of college campuses is a prelude to a 2008 presidential run. "We'll deal with that down the road," he said.

Within hours of the speech, Florida's Republican Party issued a statement defending President Bush's commitment to a "compassionate conservative agenda," citing his support for Medicare prescription-drug coverage for seniors and affordable-housing grants.

"Our wish is that John Edwards and the Democrats would work in bipartisan fashion toward these goals instead of continuing to obstruct great progress," party spokeswoman Camille Anderson said.